THE NEW YORKER for a long and amusing satirical story called "The Pismire Plan," by ] es- samyn \Vest, there is little of distinc- tion in this fourth annual collection of "new American writing." Another longish story, by Robert Lowry, about two American soldiers on an amorous binge in wartime Rome, is satisfactory in spots but takes itself too seriously. In his foreword, Mr. Seav- er mourns the decline in creative power that he claims is evident in the work of young American writers, a lament that is justified by the con- tents of his anthology. UNKNOWN GERMANY, by Hanna Haf- kesbrink (Yale). An informative but not totally convincing study of German attitudes toward the first \V orld \Var, based on letters, diaries, and other documents writ- ten by German soldiers at the front, which attempts to show that there was a large undercurrent of good will in the Kaiser's Reich. The au- thor, who was born in Coblenz and now teaches in this country, quotes copiously from the well-known lit- erary dissenters in the German Army of that time-Fritz von Unruh and Rudolf Binding, among the officers, and Erich Maria Remarque and Ernst Toller, among the men- to prove her point; she also includes excerpts from disillusioned, pathetic letters written by workers and peas- ants in uniform. Miss Hafkesbrink claims that similar humanitarian sen- timents are not untypical of Germans today, a proposition that it will re- qUIre tIme to prove. AMONG THE NATIONS, edited by Lud- wig Lewisohn ( Farrar, Stra us) . Three long stories and a play about Jews, by non-Jewish writers. The play is Galsworthy's "Loyalties," and the stories are "The Alien Corn," by Somerset Maugham; "Silbermann," by Jacques de Lacretelle; and "Ta- mar," from Thomas Mann's "lo- seph" tetralogy. The editor contends that these are the best examples from the exceedingly small body of this sort of literature, in which Christian writ- ers have shown any understanding or knowledge of the people they are- writing about; he dismisses more fa- mous works, such as "Ulysses," as giving false pictures of Jews. MY STE.R. Y AND CR.IME. THERE Is A TIDE, by Agatha Christie (Dodd, Mead). A covey of nice, upper-class murder suspects, living in the village of \Varmsley Heath, comes to the attention of Hercule 91 hMX S m *"'; "::': :" wa"' i P f; ;' \." .........-: ....... .. . "... "::::::: ;:;. .." .:' . ;.....(",( ::::':::::: ::: --.' ::.":: t;;lt",' ".'. ", ":... . , \ I't- '!t' It-; t ...:.;:-: -1' '. " 1 ;', .' J .... -,.,. " J . .... " . } f.,; \ . ::'.k. J : ./t" , '. .:" : . , ......... f { : t 7 f t > :;. 7 t, . :.:;:.,,, p:? ' :.:.., :.." '. fi .... fi """i ,'.,.' . f L , " ...;.: .y:. :.,,,.... ...... ':.,[ ..: ,;: ::I . RT .m ;.....iiI t '.. . :.... '. ::; ; , .... . ...- ,- "Y.... ....: : t:11$ ' r )" :.;' .:i . :'.;.'> 1 .;,.0<:' .s:} .:< ", .. . t . U.' 4:.".. *" ,:::"':'. 1 :'. 'I:'I '-''''::':;>:: 4 . t,.. . f . : 't 1""s ..::. * .; j . !t .., . . . . Arc de TriollllJ!le GOlll)Jleted in II aris, France in I U:56 Familiar to millions of Americans is this Great Symbol of France-the largest and most beautiful of all triumphal arches. It was designed by Chalgrin and required 31 years to build. Under the arch is the tomb of the HU nknown Warrior." . . . Tile Huuse uf Martell Founded in Cognac, France in 1715 For 233 years the House of Martel] has been under the personal direction of the Martell family. Its great heritage of pride, tradition and skill is the world's assurance of Cognac quality without peer. It is this unequalled excellence that has made Martell Cognac a Great Symbol of France, and the choice of those who always insist on the best. >---- \ I '.' ,I ' .. ,. . :..:m , ......:. ;::::::;'::::,.. "J ' ç ':ß"" ...... .. v ."- ...... "......., - ......... ...=.... . 0" .,. ........... ,#. ... ..,... ....... "0 ":'. "." ..- . .- ->." ... - ?: ..; . .., . :.:-..........--;......"'..:..,}'...-...... I I ! ! ! i 1/ __uj.. ,j æ - B 1 /1 f Ill . [] V - - ( -.' - , t- í PARK & TilFORD IMPORT CORP. NEW YORK. 84 PROOF